


need a one way ticket home

by adverbialstarlight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Dark Fantasy, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, High Fantasy, Love Confessions, M/M, Mages, Magic-Users, Magical Artifacts, Mutual Pining, POV Keith (Voltron), Pining, Reunions, So basically, Worldbuilding, all into one au, i combined harry potter carry on grishaverse and throne of glass, not for raisin, the tags that showed up when i typed magical are wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 18:29:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbialstarlight/pseuds/adverbialstarlight
Summary: Keith is a powerful mage who has been fighting in the Marmora Rebellion against the Galra Empire for the past year. The war still continues, but he decides to leave the front for a while and return to Voltros, where his friends still live. Though the toll of fighting to the near death and homesickness are definitely factors in his return, there is one person in particular who he's come back to see.





	need a one way ticket home

**Author's Note:**

> long time no see!! i haven't written a kl one shot in a while so i shoved aside my event works and made this lol. it was really fun to write tbh its 4am rn bc daylight savings but i wanted to finish it that badly. anyway enjoy :D
> 
> title from [one way ticket by one ok rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wwVO-N0hwc) they're amazing and i highly recommend their music!
> 
> this was unedited/betaed and partially written on the bus to school so please pardon any mistakes.

The morning that Keith came back, it was warm and sunny. No one had expected it to be, not after it had been so cold that the rain had frozen to the ground the night before, but perhaps it was a sign that he was meant to come back today.

He passed through the town with purpose.

Any other time, Keith would have stopped and appreciated it more— it was his first day back in his home kingdom of Voltros since he'd gone to serve as a mage in the Marmora Rebellion against Galra a year before, after all— but there was only two things on his mind today.

When he reached the bakery, the door was already propped open with a sack of rice. Through the window, Shiro was kneading a pile of dough, violet whisps of his magic lifting measuring tools and mixing a new batch of dough for later. It was a familiar sight but still different somehow, and Keith felt a tinge of guilt in his chest as he watched.

Keith had been away for too long. There was no reason for Shiro  _ not  _ to remember him, but things could change in a year. That reminded of the second thing that he was here for— Lance. Keith doubted that he would even want to look at him, not after what Keith had done, but he would have to worry about that later. He need something from Shiro first, but then he was headed straight to the castle.

Keith took a deep breath and stepped inside.

“Welcome to the best bakery on this side of the Dark Rift, how can I—” Shiro began. The words seemed to die in his throat when he turned, the dough dropping with a loud plop onto the flour covered counter.

Keith gave a small wave. “Hey, Shiro,” he said quietly. “It’s been a while. Can I come in?”

Shiro scoffed, snapping out of his surprise, and came around the counter to pull Keith into a friend. “Keith!” he exclaimed. “Of course I missed you— I’ve been worried that you burned out and you died somewhere in the middle of a battlefield. The reports are getting pretty bad.”

“Ugh, Shiro, flour hands. It’s actually impossible to get stains out of this uniform. But yeah, things aren’t great and General Kolivan actually tried getting me to stay for a bit longer,” Keith replied. “But enough about war politics, how are you? How’re the others?”

“You mean  _ I’m _ the first one that you decided to come see?” Shiro gave Keith an incredulous look, pulling back to cross his arms. “I would’ve thought Lance would be your first stop.”

Keith shrugged, a blush rising in his cheeks. “Oh shut up. I’m going to go see him but there’s, uh, something that I wanted to ask you for first.” He paused, then continued hurriedly, “Do you remember back when we were all still at the Academy and Lance and I went on that quest to find that Arctic wyvern near the Rift in sixth year?”

A grin began to form on Shiro’s lips and he nodded. “It left that scrying geode and you made me lock it in a box for you,” he recalled. “You didn’t want Lance to look into it.”

Scrying geodes came from wyverns, they usually gave the slayer of the wyvern glimpses of the present. But Arctic wyverns made prophetic geodes that gave the slayer a single glimpse of their future, one that would loop over and over again.

The scene he saw was simple. He was about twenty years old in it, four years older than when he’d founds the geode. Lance was there too, also about twenty— and they were holding hands. They grinned sappily at each other for a few moments, matching bands of gold on their fingers, and then leaned in for a kiss.

It was completely and utterly embarrassing, and the only reason Shiro knew was because Keith had demanded that he help hide the geode after Lance tried looking into it. He had been determined to keep it a secret for as long as he lived, he would hide that he _maybe_ kind of really liked Lance until it hopefully went away. And the best way to do that was locking away the tangible evidence.

“Yeah,” Keith said. “Then I gave it to you when I left with Marmora.”

“And I’m going to assume you want it back?” Keith nodded and Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Huh, I could’ve sworn that you said you wanted this thing out of your sight forever.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well I want it back now,” he said, ignoring the knowing gleam in Shiro’s eyes. “Don’t give me that look, things have… changed recently and I need it.”

As he fought at the border of the Dark Rift in the past year, he’d figured that the scrying geode had lied and he would be dead before anything like it had shown could happen. His magic was always depleted, his mind always exhausted and unsure whether he’d last to see the next morning.

But then after one particularly close battle only a week before, he’d gotten a message from Lance that changed his mind.

During Keith’s entire time with the Marmora, Lance had been sending him messages. Most of them were small and stupid things, like what he ate that day or some weird noble that came by to visit his alchemy lab. Keith never replied, but they were an anchor for him. They were what got him to wake up and go out to join in the battle every day, to kept him from just letting a Galran soldier hit him with a nasty hex and ending it all.

A few days before, a bomb had been planted in the Marmora base. Keith and a few of the others were able to deactivate it, but if he had noticed it a moment later they’d all have been gone. Only moments after he was able to leave and go back to his tent, Lance’s message had come.

`Hey Keith, Magical Mage With a Mullet` , it read.  `Today Allura got a girlfriend, that girl Romelle I mentioned a while back if you remember. She’s been pining after her for a while now though and I’m glad they worked that out. It’s amazing how people can still find love even with the war happening, right? Anyway, I ~~really miss you~~  hope you’re hanging in there and decide to ~~come home soon~~ stay alive out there. You’re probably busy right now kicking Galra ass, but everyone misses you and we hope you’re not dead. Bye!`

Perhaps it had been coming close to having his entire legion killed moments before, or perhaps it had been something that was building up ever since he’d left, but either way, Keith made a decision that day. He was going back and he was going to tell Lance how he felt, in person and before he got killed by the Rift.

During the trip back to Voltros, Keith had planned out everything out. He was going to confess with the geode— and a speech that he was probably going to forget the moment he saw Lance, but whatever.

Shiro led him through the back into his bedroom, a small and cozy space with a single window. “I had a feeling you’d want it back, you know. Lucky for you, I know exactly where I put it.” After a moment of digging in a box on the ground, Shiro produced the small box and handed it to Keith. “Here you go. Do you want help opening it or are you a big mage now?”

Keith rolled his eyes but smiled as he put the box in his pocket. “Very funny, Shiro. I should be fine. But thanks. For keeping it, I mean.”

Shiro patted his shoulder. “Of course. Now go get your boy, he’ll be elated to see you.”

“Thanks,” Keith muttered. “But he might just decide he wants nothing to do with me. It’s been a year.”

They’d left on decent terms, sure, but Keith still hadn’t answered any messages. They were probably just for the sake of pleasantries now and he would slam the door in Keith’s face were he to see him.

Shiro scoffed. “You’d be surprised, Keith. Just keep in mind that you might  _ not  _ get rejected yeah? I’m proud of you.”

“Unlikely. See you later, Shiro,” he replied, turning and making his way to the back door.

Even still, Keith tried to keep Shiro’s words in his head as he ran towards the castle.

He used to come to the castle daily, being a soldier who had served directly under Princess Allura herself and a close friend of several employees. He was granted instant access, able to pass through freely whenever he pleased. He was sure that would be revoked now but the guards let him through easily and soon enough he was running across the courtyard to the base of the familiar stone tower.

Keith’s voice shook as he muttered an elevation spell, watching as the dark red magic began to snake around his body and lift him towards the highest stairwell window. So many times before, Lance would laugh himself breathless— and make Keith’s heart practically stop beating— as he watched Keith trudge up the stairs, but now it only took a minute to get up there with a simple spell he’d learned in the Rebellion.

He climbed into the tower and immediately felt the magic nullifying spell that Lance had cast on the stairs. After taking a deep breath and making sure the geode was still in his pocket, Keith knocked.

After a moment, the door swung open to reveal a disheveled and tired looking Lance. “Hunk, buddy, I’m sorry but I— Keith.”

Keith watched Lance’s bright blue eyes widen in shock, his mouth falling open and his fingers slipping from the doorknob. He shrugged. “Uh, surprise?” he said.

For a moment, Lance didn’t react and Keith was getting ready to turn, but then he was pulled into a tight hug. Lance buried his face into Keith’s neck as he pulled him in closer. They stood in the doorway for a few minutes, clinging to each other tightly like the other might turn into dust.

Finally Lance lifted his head, eyes searching Keith’s own as he whispered, “Is it really you?”

Keith was a bit too aware of the proximity, how their breath seemed to intermingle and their noses brushed. This close Lance’s eyes were more vibrant than ever, his eyelashes were thick and the bridge of his nose and his pink tinged cheeks dotted with freckles. If he were less of a coward, Keith would’ve leaned forward and kissed each and every one of those freckles. His voice felt hoarse when he whispered back, “Yeah. Thanks for not slamming the door in my face.”

Lance laughed, stepping back. Keith immediately missed the warmth and almost stepped forward again but instead followed him into the lab. “My pleasure,” Lance said. “So what’re you doing here? I thought that right now you’d be needed with the rebellion.”

Cheeks burning again, Keith looked away from Lance’s intense stare. “I came to see you, actually,” he mumbled. “I wanted to tell you something, but sending a message didn’t feel right so here I am.”

“Cool,” Lance said, “so what is it?”

He took in a shaky breath, sitting on a relatively clear space on Lance’s worktable. “Do you remember that scrying geode from the Arctic wyvern we killed in sixth year at the Academy? And I wouldn’t show you what was in it,” he started. Lance nodded, head tilting adorably in confusion. “I’m going to show you, but please don’t freak out too much and let me talk first.”

Lance nodded again and Keith pulled the box out of his pocket, smiling when it popped open after he said the incantation. He held it out and Lance picked up the crystal, lifting it to his line of sight. After a moment he gasped and nearly dropped it, eyes widening even more and his mouth falling agape. “Is that—” he began.

Quickly Keith put his own hands over Lance’s and forced himself to look up again. “Look, I know this is probably kind of weird and nothing has to change if you don’t want it to  but— I really like you Lance. I have for a while, I think I might be in love with you. I read your messages and missed you so goddamn much this past year it actually hurt and I— you don’t have to feel the same way but I wanted to be able to tell you that myself before I got killed in the war.”

Lance said nothing for a moment but then began laughing with pure, unbridled joy. It made Keith’s pulse race and his stomach flip when he turned to him again with a grin. “Oh my god,” Lance said, turning his hands to squeeze Keith’s own. “Oh my god. You’re serious? And that— that’s what you tried hiding from me when we were sixteen?”

“Uh.”

Again, Lance laughed. “I love you too, Keith,” he said seriously, “I always have. But I never thought I had a chance, except now I— can I kiss you?”

Instead of responding Keith pulled Lance in by his robes with a tug, pressing their lips together gently. Lance’s hands came up to tangle into Keith’s hair and linger over his jaw, urgent but soft. He kissed him long and passionately, and Keith probably would have stumbled if he weren’t already sitting. So many times he had imagined what kissing Lance would be like, but it was all nothing compared to the real thing.

They pulled back a bit a few minutes later and Lance shook his head in bewilderment. “How are you even real?” he whispered.

“I could ask you the same,” Keith replied. And as he sat there in this small alchemist laboratory watching the love of his life blush and stutter because of  _ him _ , he was sure that he didn’t want to leave again. The war could wait— the Galra and war and politics could wait. Right now, all that mattered was him and Lance.

**Author's Note:**

> wow it's been a minute since i've posted anything is my writing relevant to the 2 people it was relevant to anymore lmao. i have a huge monster of a klance fic that i've been working on for a big bang which is why there's been a break in kl but hopefully that's coming in april or may!! its going to be lit.  
> anyway, i hope yall liked this small fic!! for a long ass time i've wanted to write something off of one way ticket bc i love one ok rock and this song SCREAMS kl and since this weird harry potter/carry on/grishaverse/throne of glass esque au popped into my head i fucking ran with it.
> 
> that's all from me, i hope you have a lovely day/night/whatever, leave a comment/kudos or simply read the fic to make me cry and bye  
> (catch me on [tumblr](http://adverbialstarlight.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/adverbialnouns) if ya want)


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